Understanding Deixis, Coherence, and Cohesion in Text

Understanding Deixis, Coherence, and Cohesion

Personal Deixis: I, we, you, he, him, them

Spatial Deixis: here, in, on, off, below, to there

Temporal Deixis: today, yesterday, tomorrow, then, at that time, before, after

Coherence

Coherence means the relationship should have logic among all text parts. The ideas developed reference the same theme and are related, concluding between them.

Progression of a Constant Theme

The theme is repeated throughout the paragraphs. It appears especially in descriptive, narrative, and expository texts.

Progression of Derivative Themes

Once an issue is stated (also called a hypertheme), the rest of the themes are aspects or parts of the first type. This progression is very common in expository texts.

Progression of Linked Themes

Each new theme collects information that the previous row contains. The issue is two or the sum of ideas expressed above.

Cataphora

Grammatical substitution of elements present in the text. The substitute appears first, then the element it refers to. Cataphoric elements are the same as anaphoric elements.

Anaphora

Grammatical substitution of elements present in the text. In this case, the anaphora is the first reference, and then the substitute. Anaphoric elements can be pronouns, determiners, and adverbs.

Paragraph Structure

• Analysing: The main information is at the beginning.
• Synthesizing: The main information is at the end, by way of conclusion.
• Enclosed: The main information is at the beginning and end.

Cohesion

Cohesion mechanisms are the linguistic procedures that interrelate a sequence and other text. It is important to distinguish two basic types of cohesion mechanisms:

Discourse Markers

These are words that express the issuer's intention to establish connections among ideas. They can connect two sentences, paragraphs, or more extensive sections. Thematic continuity, the maintenance of the same or related topics, and their permanence and evolution in the text are also cohesion mechanisms.

Thematic Continuity Procedures

These may be linguistic, such as anaphora and lexical relations, or depend on our understanding of the world, as sometimes occurs in referential continuity or associative anaphora.